Mouth appliance



May 11, 1954 E. STARK 2,678,043

MOUTH APPLIANCE Filed DGO. 18, 1951 mvemon EMANUEL STARK ATTORNEYPatentecl May 11, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOUTH APPLIANCEEmanuel Stark, Stamford, Conn. Application December 18, 1951, Serial No.262,313

4 Claims. (Cl. 12S-136) lViy invention relates to mouth appliances forprotecting the teeth, mouth andlips of contestants in athleticendeavours, for example, football players.

The mouth appliances now in use by football players are distinctlyunpleasant to wear not only because of their awkward size, but alsobecause they make breathing difficult and talking virtually impossible.

My invention is designed to eliminate these faults, accordingly anobject of my invention is to provide an athletic mouth protector that iscomfortable to wear and permits normal breathing and speech when worn.

A further object is to provide an athletic mouthpiece with a stripinsert embedded therein which makes the appliance extremely strong yetpliable. The inclusion of this insert embedded in the appliancedistributes the force of a blow or shock over the entire area of theappliance and hence to all the teeth, thus loss of teethis almostcompletely eliminated.

Another object is the provision of an athletic mouth protector which iseasily and rapidly fitted in the mouth and which maintains its positiontherein during its use, protecting both the upper and lower set of teethfrom damage and the mouth and lips from lacerati'ons.

Another object is to provide an athletic mouth protector which isrelatively compact in size and which is locked and retained` inclose-fittingposition with the upper set of teeth when the wearers mouthis opened to permit breathing and talking.

A further object is the provision of a mouth appliance withflanges andbite portions therebetween shaped to conform to the upper and lower setsrespectively of the wearers teeth, the lower set of teeth being adaptedto be inserted and withdrawn from its respective flanges and biteportion upon articulation of the wearers lower Jaw.

The above and other features and advantages of the present inventionwill be fully understood from the following description considered inconnection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view looking angularly down from above and infront of the device embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to that shown in Fig. 1 but looking angularlyupward from below and in front of the underside of my device;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation view of the device as fitted in position foruse;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation view thereof similar to that shown in Fig. 3but showing how the device is retained upon the upper teeth of thewearer to permit talking and breathing through the mouth;

Fig. 5 is a sectional View thereof takenv along the lines 5 5 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the U- shaped, soft, cushion rubberprotector or mouth appliance embodying my invention is referred togenerally by the numeral l0. Mouth appliance It is provided with innerand outer iianges l2 and Hi respectively on its upper side (Fig. l) andinner and outer anges l6 and t8 respectively on its lower side (Fig. 2).The flanges l2, lll, I6' and i8l extend completely around the mouthappliance commencing at one end 20 thereof and continuingaround the loopor bight portion 22 and terminating at the other end 24 thereof. Theentire mouth appliance is preferably moldedl in one piece so that saidflanges are integral with the body of the mouth appliance forming asubstantially continuous unitary structure.

It is intended that the mouth appliance embodying my invention be madeby taking a cast of the wearers teeth and from the cast producing anappliance that conforms substantially to the individual shape andcontour of the wearers mouth and teethand to-the natural articulationofthel jaws. It is not intended, however', to limit the scope of myinvention to custom made mouth appliances, but protectors embodying myinvention may be mass-produced in several sizes and contours to t agreat variety of mouths.

TheA flanges l2 andi I4 and the flanges It and Hl" of mouth appliance l0are constructedv in spaced-confronting relationto` eachA other forming abite portion 26 therebetween on both sides of the mouth appliance. Sinceit is preferable that the mouth appliance be made and constructedespecially for each individual wearer, the upper and lower bite portions26 will be molded or shaped to substantially conform to and fit thecusps and faces of the teeth, while the flanges l2 and I4 will be moldedand shaped to t the inner and outer sides of the crown surfaces of theupper set of teeth, and the flanges I6 and I8 will -be molded and shapedto fit the inner and outer sides of the crown surfaces of the lowerteeth.

The loop or bight portion 22 is thickened while the ends 26 and 2Arespectively of mouth appliance l0 taper off and are thinner in relationto said loop or bight portion. A strip of material 28, preferably anextremely strong yet pliable material like ortho-ply resin which is anorthopedic resin is embedded in the soft cushion rubber and extends fromone end 20 of the mouth appliance I around the loop or bight portion 22and terminates at the other end 24 thereof. This strip is preferablyvulcanized in the outside arch of the mouth appliance and when saidmouth appliance is in place the strip 28 is positioned between thewearers lips and teeth and follows the generally U-shaped contour of themouth appliance and functions to distribute the shock of a blow evenlyover the entire mouth appliance and consequently to all the teeth. Thus,instead of one tooth or several teeth bearing the impact of a blow, theforce is spread over and absorbed by all the teeth of the wearer,protecting both the upper and lower sets of teeth from damage, and themouth and lips from lacerations. The upper face of mouth appliance I 0is so designed by contour and shape to hold the mouth appliance bysuction upon the upper teeth of the wearer, even when the lower set ofteeth are removed from the bite portion 2S, As seen in Figs. 3 and 4,due to the compactness of said mouth appliance the wearer may breatheand talk normally without sacriicing any protection of the mouth andteeth.

It will be noted from Fig. that the orthoply resin strip 28 does notabut directly on the wearers teeth, but a portion of soft cushion rubberappears behind said resin strip as well as in front of the same tominimize the effect of a blow or other force that may be struck in themouth region.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided an athleticmouth appliance that is compact in size and simple in construction whichwill protect the teeth from damage and minimize the possibility ofbruising and cutting or otherwise injuring the lips due to a blowadministered upon or over the area of the lips yet at the same timeallowing normal and natural breathing and talking.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that the latter may be embodiedotherwise than as herein specifically illustrated or described, and thatin the illustrated embodiment certain changes in the details ofconstruction and in the arrangement of the parts may be made withoutdeparting from the underlying idea or principle of the invention withinthe scope of the appended claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A U-shaped mouth protector for athletic contests comprising amouthpiece having a pair of substantially U-shaped, spaced flanges onopposite faces of said mouthpiece for receiving the upper and lower setsof the wearers teeth each pair of U-shaped anges being substantially thebite portion therebetween, a resin strip embedded in said mouthprotector and located forward of the wearers teeth whereby the force ofa blow in the wearers mouth region will be distributed oversubstantially the entire area of said mouth protector and consequentlyto substantially all the wearers teeth.

3. A U-shaped mouth protector comprising an upper and lower pair ofspace-confronting anges adapted to accommodate therebetween the upperand lower teeth respectively, a strip of material embedded in said mouthprotector and located forward of and adjacent to said upper and lowerteeth whereby the force of a blow in the wearers mouth region will bedistributed over substantially the entire area of said mouth protectorand consequently to substantially all the wearers teeth.

4. A U-shaped mouth protector comprising an upper and lower pair ofspace-confronting flanges adapted to accommodate therebetween the upperand lower teeth respectively said upper and lower pair ofspace-confronting iianges merging into a bite portion locatedtherebetween and transversely thereto, a substantially U-shaped resinstrip in said mouth protector located anterior to said upper and lowerteeth whereby the force of a blow in the wearers mouth region will bedistributed over substantially the entire area of said mouth protectorand consequently to substantially all the wearers teeth.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 2,192,558 Poindexter Mar. 5, 1940 2,600,025 Sage June 10, 1952FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 480,423 Germany Aug. 2, 1929

